Jessie and I were very surprised to look out at the feeder today at Monkey Run in Tompkins County and see what appears to be a first-winter male Cassiar Junco (Junco hyemalis cismontanus).
While the taxonomy of Cassiar Junco is complex (to say the least) and further complicated by our very poor understanding of how this taxa compares with Oregon x Slate-colored Junco (and potential hybrids of this cluster-fest), this individual is what I consider to be fairly typical for a male Cassiar Junco. The key thing to look at is the marked contrast between the blackish head and breast and the paler gray sides and back. This is a first-winter bird, which one can see most easily in the pattern of the tertials. Note that the uppermost tertial has pale gray edges. This is a newer feather and looks very different from the two retained tertials, which have brown edges. An adult junco would show a uniform pattern to the tertials. Female Cassiar Juncos, and first-winter females in particular, seem very challenging to identify -- it seems that many are NOT identifiable given the range of variation in first-year Slate-colored Juncos. There seems to be great overlap between first-year female Slate-coloreds, Cassiar, and Oregon. I've seen a few such confusing birds in New York, which I haven't been able identify. Male Cassiar Junco seems much more identifiable. This is the first bird that I have seen well in New York that I have thought was a Cassiar Junco (to the extent I am confident that Cassiar Junco is a real entity at all versus a hybrid zone of Slate-colored x Oregon Juncos). Also note that there is a range of variation in the head color of normal Slate-colored Junos, with some appearing quite dark-headed. Such dark-headed Slate-colored Juncos have more blended pattern the face, crown, nape and back, as well as more blending between the breast and the sides. A few photos of this bird are at the link below. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinicola/ Thanks to Christian Nunes, Marshall Iliff, Steve Mlodinow, Tony Leukering and Jessie Barry and for some very enjoyable discussions about juncos in the last week or two -- amazing to have this bird show up on the heels of several discussions on junco ID. Special thanks to Christian who also looked at these photos and concurred. Best, Chris Wood eBird & Neotropical Birds Project Leader Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York http://ebird.org http://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
